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<title>Good luck, beautiful by PinkLotus (EspurrsVena)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24054364">Good luck, beautiful</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EspurrsVena/pseuds/PinkLotus'>PinkLotus (EspurrsVena)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>JO1 (Japan Band), Produce 101 (Japan TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, M/M, Riddles, Secret Relationship, no beta we die like real men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:49:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,666</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24054364</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EspurrsVena/pseuds/PinkLotus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was their own game. Each one of them would secretly drop a riddle or clues for the other one.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kawanishi Takumi/Kawashiri Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Good luck, beautiful</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Games were Ren’s passion and the one he and Takumi played became his favourite one soon. Each one of them would drop little riddles and clues for the other one to discover and Ren had to admit it was one game Takumi was much better than him. Each time Takumi started a game, his mind wouldn’t rest until he discovered all clues and solved the riddle. <br/>Meanwhile, everyone assumed that Ren was too obvious with his own ones but little did they know that those weren’t the real ones. He was masking the real game with those. Just like during their werewolf games Ren was good in acting the oblivious one while quietly working towards the win. Each one of them had their own tactic which made the game even more exciting.<br/>Yet Takumi’s way of playing was far more secretive just like his personality. He usually dropped his clues when no one, not even Ren expected them. He was as competitive as the silver haired dancer and there was no way he would let him go easily. <br/>Just like today. </p>
<p>They were in the middle of recording Sukai’s birthday video and suddenly Takumi started to show bags of KitKats. Due the quality of the video call and Takumi’s delicate handwriting Ren couldn’t read it all of it. The first one was the birthday gift for Sukai but the other one remained a mystery. It frustrated him because he hated not solving the riddles. Of course, he couldn’t show it, no, it was Sukai’s moment right now, but he wanted to know. <br/>Later, properly too late when the video was finally uploaded, he was able to rewatch the moment and found Takumi’s clue: “Ren, notice this!” was written on the package. <br/>That was all? No, never, he thought.  </p>
<p>He was the type to randomly drop something without a big meaning, just to confuse others, but Takumi’s rare clues usually carried a deeper meaning. Ren knew better than to assume that the pink haired one was an airhead. Sure, he had those moments which gave him that image, yet once you got to know him, you understood that Takumi rarely did something without a deeper meaning. <br/>That was what made the game challenging from his side. Ren had to think about every little detail to discover the real meaning. He rewatched the clip and tried to study each of Takumi’s movements, yet they didn’t give a single hint. It had to be something else he thought.  </p>
<p>The colour of the pen? No, it was the same pen Takumi used for Sukai’s message, too. <br/>That only left the package itself. It had been part of the package each of them received from their endorsement, one of the seasonal flavours the Japan was famous for. To be exact, i was the Sakura Mochi flavour one which was the spring flavour this year. Sakura mochis were a common thing during this season.  </p>
<p>Speaking of seasons, maybe it was related to his senryuu? He wrote about spring back then. Of course, it had been one of his own riddles back then. Recently, Takumi had started singing while taking a bath and when they both had opened their windows, Ren was able to hear him.  <br/>Spring itself had been a synonym for Takumi because of his cherry blossoms coloured hair though his hair was rather blonde than pink in the moment, pink was the colour he was associated the most. </p>
<p>Sakura mochi were eaten either during girl ‘s day which was the day before their debut or during Hanami. They had planned to do some hanami, yet due the current situation it had been impossible. They weren’t allowed to go outside unless there were schedules. <br/>Did Takumi mean that he wanted to do some hanami with him? Inside his room? Recently, both of them liked to look online for places to go after the quarantine and maybe he had found one? <br/>It made sense, yet he was not satisfied with his answer. There had to be something else... especially because he wasn’t allowed to go into Takumi’s room yet. Entering Takumi’s room was the big price for him to win in their game. Was it time for the final round now?, he wondered. </p>
<p>Still, he felt like it wasn’t the complete answer. He had to dig deeper. Maybe, he thought, he had look for the meanings of “Sakura” and “mochi” individually. <br/>Cherry blossoms were usually associated with women, especially beautiful ones. Or Takumi himself. However, a quick SNS Check had showed him that his lazy-at-home-style had quite the effect on his fans... the chance that Takumi called him beautiful existed. </p>
<p>When he got ready for the video a few hours ago, I just finished dancing, so he felt warm and without much thinking he had opened the first buttons of his shirt. He rarely used the air conditioning, an old habit from living alone, and even though he hadn’t to worry about his electricity bill anymore, he preferred simpler ways to cool down. </p>
<p>Next up was the meaning of “mochi”. Mochis were considered an omen of good fortunes. His research made another result pop up which made him blush. “A talisman for happy marriages” this was surely too much. As weird as their relationship was, marriage wasn’t an option for sure.  <br/>However, his heart beat faster just by thinking about Takumi and marriage. Takumi’s coming of age photo shoot and the recent shooting had proved that the younger one looked stunning in suits. <br/>Suddenly, his imagination took that thought further. His mind pictured them surrounded by their friends, exchanging vows under the cherry blossoms. <br/>He had to squish his ditto plushie to calm himself down and let go of that thought. It was something far too unrealistic and no matter how hard he had fallen for the pink haired one, he shouldn’t act like a love sick middle school girl. <br/>There was still the riddle to solve and Ren was determined to solve it. </p>
<p>He took another look at the clue. “Ren, notice this.” <br/>There was an unhappy emoji after the message which he interpreted that the younger one wasn’t happy about his style. He hoped that it was some kind of jealousy that others had seen him like that. So far, he was the only one of them who had openly displayed some kinds of signs of jealousy.  <br/>Everyone loved to spoil Takumi and while he couldn’t blame him for enjoying that, he often felt a pinch of jealousy each time another member got close to him. It got worse when Takumi openly showed physical affection to someone else in front of cameras.  </p>
<p>Ren never knew how to react in those moments. He wanted to be that person, he wanted to remove that person, he wanted Takumi to only see him. He knew that he couldn’t act on those thoughts - he had promised Takumi that he can decide their pace and jealousy was a monster that only ruined things. <br/>Takumi deciding on their pace was also the cause of their game. Ren had no idea when they started it, yet one day he just knew that there was something going on. For each solved riddle, he was rewarded with another small step in their relationship and the final prize was entering the blonde haired one’s room. The room was a mystery what intrigued him just for the sake of not knowing how it looked like. That this mystery belonged to Takumi only fuelled his desire to bring it to light. </p>
<p>Looking back at the picture and the riddle in front of him, he tried to look for other details he might have missed, yet there was none. He concluded that the Sakuramochi part was the important one. <br/>“Good luck, beautiful.” He heard Takumi’s voice inside of his mind, yet another part of him was still hesitating.  <br/>Why would Takumi invite him today? For the two of them it was like any other day; it was Sukai’s day. At the same time, it was unexpecting which fit to previous riddles he had solved. <br/>Had his shirt an effect on Takumi, too? When his shirt had been that wide open during a photo shooting, Takumi had indeed reacted bashfully to it. <br/>He was afraid to mess up his progress, yet he gathered all of his courage. He still had some flowers inside of his room and while there were not cherry blossoms, he took them and went upstairs. </p>
<p>It was already late and there was the chance that the younger one was asleep already, but he knocked anyway. <br/>The few seconds that passed between his knock and Takumi opening the door felt like an eternity and Ren’s heart was hammering against his rips. <br/>“Ah Ren. What’s up?” Luckily, it seemed like he hadn’t woken up the shorter one. <br/>His heart was still beating like crazy and his mouth felt dry, but it was a now or never Moment for Ren. He had to try. “You got the snacks and I have the flowers. Those aren’t cherry blossoms but they are pretty, too.” Of course, not as pretty as you, he added mentally. <br/>A smirk appeared on Takumi’s face. “Come in.” </p>
<p>Ren couldn’t believe to hear those words finally. He was waiting to hear them for months and actually entering his room felt like a dream. He knew that normally that was nothing special, yet in this case it was the jackpot of their game. <br/>Takumi’s room was quite dark and his eyes needed a moment to adjust to it. The room was just like he imagined it: clean, neat and with a huge bed. <br/>“Did you imagine it like that, Ren?” <br/>“Yes.” He still felt like it was a dream. <br/>“Come sit here.” The younger one sat down on his bed and pat on the spot next to him. </p>
<p>Like in trance, Ren sat down and his heart couldn’t calm down. Technically, it wasn’t a new situation for him. More than once they had sat like that in his room, but maybe being in Takumi’s room this time caused his heart to go crazy. <br/>Takumi took the flowers from him and put them into a vase he had prepared. “Actually, we can have some real hanami right now. There are some live cams from Hokkaido.” He opened the laptop which showed beautifully illuminated cherry trees and handed a small chocolate to the dancer. <br/>“It’s beautiful.” As much as Ren wanted to see those flowers in reality, the current situation felt much more intimate. It was just the two of them and no one else was able to witness that moment. That was essentially what made their relationship special. Takumi’s affection for the other members were for the public but the one for Ren was just for the two of them. Sure, they had their public moments, too, especially because Ren couldn’t help but to voice his affection for the younger sometimes, yet the meaningful moments happened in the secrecy of Ren’s room or Takumi’s room in the case of today. </p>
<p>“Not as beautiful as you.” <br/>“Aren’t those my words?” Usually he was the one who kept praising the other one’s looks. His heart had no chance to calm down the night. <br/>“Today those are mine.” Swiftly, Takumi climbed on Ren’s lap, his face closer than ever. “This shirt... it’s dangerous.” The silver haired one hadn’t bothered to change for his night clothes yet, he had been too focused on the riddle anyway. <br/>In the meantime, Takumi closed the buttons on the shirt but his fingers lingered a moment too long on the skin. </p>
<p>Each spot that was touched felt like it was on fire and Ren could only stare at him. Forgotten was the live stream on the laptop in front of them. Takumi had taken over all of his thoughts. “Takumi..” He wanted to kiss him, but he was afraid to cross a border. So much had progressed between them already and he didn’t want to destroy that. Yet, Takumi was so close and there was something in his eyes that seemed to tell him to take that step. <br/>His hands started to act on their own, grabbing one of the sweets, breaking it in the middle - he was no monster - and putting one of the halves between his lips before leaning towards the person on his lap. <br/>Takumi didn’t back off and when their lips finally touched, Ren’s heart skipped a beat. The younger one bit of a part of the candy, yet his lips stayed on Ren’s ones.  <br/>Slowly, not wanting to scare the other one, Ren deepened the kiss. Takumi’s lips tasted sweet, like candy and cola, a combination that had good chances to become his new favourite taste. </p>
<p>He could feel that the hands left his collar and went towards his neck, pulling him closer. Everything felt so aerial and Ren was afraid that it was nothing but a dream. When they parted breathlessly, he looked in the eyes of the boy who still sat on his lap. There wasn’t much light in the room, yet his eyes were sparkling like stars. “Beautiful”, without realising the word left his mouth and a smile appeared on Takumi’s face. <br/>“Congratulations on your win.” </p>
<p>Ren knew he had collected his prize already, but he couldn’t help but the kiss the other one again. His lips were more addicting than a bar of chocolate. <br/>While the first kiss was more about testing the waters, the second one was more intense. Even if that moment was nothing but a dream, he had to take that chance. His hands roamed over the pink haired one’s back, yet he didn’t dare to go under the shirt. He didn’t want to rush things. As frustrating as their slow game had been, the pace had been exciting, making him want to keep it. The progress they made tonight was more than enough to make him reach cloud 9. <br/>His heart was still beating like crazy, yet he got used to it by now. His head was light and his mind was cleared from everything that wasn’t the person on his lap. It was surreal and perfect. </p>
<p>When they parted, Ren took the remaining half of the candy and placed it on the Takumi’s lips. A moment too long his fingers stayed on the blonde one’s lips after he took the candy, but Ren couldn’t help. He had to feel him. <br/>“Speaking of games, I have another one for you.” <br/>Hearing this made Ren excited. The reward for their latest game had been already thrilling, thus making him looking forward to the next one already. <br/>“Tell me more.” </p>
<p>However, what happened next was more than unexpected.  <br/>Suddenly, Takumi grabbed his own gaming console and shoved it into Ren’s hands. ”I can’t pass the level. Help me.” <br/>For a moment the silver haired one had been dumbfounded. He had anticipated everything but an actual video game. <br/>“Ren, help me! Please!” <br/>He couldn’t say no Takumi, yet he didn’t want him to let go easily either. “What do I get for it?” <br/>“You can stay here and I’ll feed you with chocolate.” <br/>One of the rewards alone would had been enough motivation for him, but of course both things together were even better. <br/>“Then let me show you how to beat that level.” </p>
<p>Ren took the gaming console and Takumi turned around, so that his back was leaning on Ren’s chest. While the dancer started the game, Takumi grabbed a can of cola and the remaining candy, feeding the small bars to the gamer from time to time while his own eyes were glued on the screen, too. <br/>Both of them felt the intimacy of that moment and they agreed silently that their pace had been just right. </p>
<p>_______________________________________________________________ <br/><b>KamenRaiderIssei</b>: <i>Guess who was finally allowed to enter Takumi’s room last night? </i><br/><b>JUNKI</b>: <i>Finally! </i><br/><b>PomPomShosei</b>: <i>I didn’t hear anything from his room... </i><br/><b>YonaOppa</b>:<i> I only heard Ruki’s washing machine last night. </i></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello~<br/>I know everyone expected a new Blood Moon chapter today and I'm going back to writing that later, but yesterday was just too much... <br/>Your local RenKumi fan just had to go full delulu and write this.<br/>I hope you liked it anyway!<br/>See ya~</p></blockquote></div></div>
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